Since picking up a paddle, Annabel has left a trail of dominance across the sport of stand up paddling.

From becoming the first (and only) female to win a world cup overall beating her male counterparts by over 6 minutes in France in 2012 she has not only found herself sharing the men’s podium on countless occasions but has dominated the women’s side of the sport with consistency year after year from open ocean to surf racing, downwind to flat water and technical river events leading the world rankings since their inception and every week since.

In 2017 – A year on the tear

“Annabel is really just a battler at heart, boldly taking on the world of racing this year as a “free agent” and winning. Again and again and again.” Chris Parker, Supracer.com

Double Gold in the Long Distance and Technical Events at the 2017 ISA World Championships in Denmark, the 2017 Female Athlete of the Year, claiming the coveted victory at the season concluding Pacific Paddle Games producing dominating wins in both the long distance and technical events, taking out the Salt Life Cup as well as two outright victories over men. Yes, 2017 has been one for the books.

From dominating the top of the podium on the water around the globe, Annabel has mirrored the same racing mountain bikes on the dirt as well as cutting shapes in the multisport world at the GoPro Mountain Games in Vail, Co taking on no less than 11 different events in 3 days, along with a strong showing at Red Bull Defiance a two day, two person multi discipline event in Lake Wanaka, New Zealand as well as backing up multiple victories on the dirt in the later part of 2017.

Coming off her 7th consecutive NZ National SUP title in March, Annabel took out an unprecedented and incredible 5th consecutive Carolina Cup Title in late April, which she backed the following week with victory in her maiden appearance at the prestigious Olukai Ho’olaule’a event on Maui.

Annabel took this momentum all the way to Bermuda and notched up her 3rd major win in 3 weeks not only winning, but winning overall (beating the first male by over 15 mins) at the Devil’s Isle Challenge a 30 miles slog around the Great Sound in 25-30 knot winds that were predominantly from the wrong direction.

The Ghost Ryder Downwinder, a 15 mile downwind race along the coast of Santa Cruz in Northern California notched up Annabel’s 3rd victory at this event as well taking out the overall line honours for the event notching up the 7th time in her career as well as consecutive events that she has overcome her male counterparts for the overall event win.

From the ocean, the end of Spring signalled a switch from the ocean to the mountains, racing on the dirt and rivers of San Diego and the Colorado mountains.

A 3 minute win in the elite female category of the first Quick n Dirty series race for 2017 led as a build into the unknown of the Go Pro Mountain Games in Vail, Colorado.

Not one to rest in her comfort zone, Annabel threw herself into everything the Mountain Games had to offer, competing across 11x events in four days across White water SUP & Kayak, trail running, road cycling and mountain biking.

Notching up wins in the SUP Downriver Sprint (her win in the Expert MTB X Country Race was disregarded after an administration error), top 5’s in the Rocky Dog 5k, Apres 5k and Pepi’s Face Off as well as top 10 in the Volvo Road Bike Time Trial saw Annabel agonisingly close to taking out the overall Ultimate Mountain Challenge for the 2017 games, only for her XC MTB Race to be discounted and finish runner up by 1 point. Her performances to compete with the best across all events did not go unnoticed and garnered the awe of spectators and media alike.

Backing up this feat of mountain athletics was a first trip to The Jay Race in Capitola, Northern California where she cemented another resounding win at the 16th running of the annual event that is held in honour of Jay Moriarty for the benefit of the Jay Moriarty Foundation.

If the first half of 2017 was big, the second half of the season was off the charts but not without it’s challenges.

Not one to shy away from a challenge, taking on 4x consecutive weeks of racing across channels between Hawaiian Islands is no small feat in the process winning the Maui 4 Molokai race between Maui and Molokai, followed up with wins in the Maui 2 Molokai (another race between Maui and Molokai) and the Poi Bowl Race down the famed Maliko Run on the North Shore of Maui.

A whirlwind of events, travel and relentless competition and logistics. It’s not for the faint hearted.

But when things get tough, Annabel is the one that is known to eat concrete for breakfast.

After maybe burning a few too many matches in these major downwind races in the lead up to Molokai 2 Oahu Paddleboard World Champs at the end of July, it took a huge amount of will to head back to the US rather than the beckoning winter slopes of Wanaka.

They that what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger and that may have been the case as Annabel slowly pulled herself out of a deep hole of mental and physical exhaustion to dominate the technical race in challenging conditions at the Columbia Gorge River Challenge, obliterate all star fields at The ISA World Championships in Denmark facing the most adverse of situations when none of her gear arrived while rounding out the season with dominating performances at the Battle of the Bay in San Francisco and obliterating the field at the end of season finale, the Pacific Paddle Games in Dana Point, California.

You can be sure that one thing is for sure – her prowess on the water and the dirt will continue leaving a wake and a trail of dust behind her.

“At some point Annabel will probably get tired of being on top, the only question is whether any other woman can genuinely challenge her before she walks away. We eagerly await to see if anyone can step up to the plate in season 2018, but no matter what happens, Annabel has pretty much sealed her status as the GOAT.” Chris Parker, Supracer.com